


Marinette's so good at repression

by Wrennydennydoo



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Character Study, Emotional Constipation, F/M, Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-01
Updated: 2020-02-01
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:48:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22502779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wrennydennydoo/pseuds/Wrennydennydoo
Summary: Had one of this pair of lovebirds been more emotionally coherent, this would have been the end of their weird sexual tension. Both of them would have come to the rational (and true!) conclusion that they came to with no memory of each other, based on evidence alone: that they were hopelessly in love (which was true!) and that they were also best friends (which was also true!) and that all of the posturing was ridiculous. Then they would have gotten more sleep, gone on a date or two, defeated Hawkmoth, and gotten married.That’s what should have happened.Instead they both awkwardly no-romo’ed each other until Marinette had another crisis.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug
Kudos: 13





	Marinette's so good at repression

In Marinette land, things were either so bad or so good that her brain could not possibly comprehend her state of being. This left one option: 

_ Repression.  _

To Marinette, this was not even a little bit dramatic. The lead up of events that led to this conclusion involved many complex details that were slowly ruining Marinette’s life (and by extension, Ladybug’s), and she was very done by the time she reached this point. She was dealing with her own role as class president, her bakery jobs, fashion competitions, school work, two (maybe three?) crushes, three petty rivalries, baby-sitting, akuma attacks (as Marinette and as Ladybug), the fate of the world (maybe??? This one was never said outright, but Tikki made it feel like the stakes were literally everyone’s life), and her secret identity and the safety of everyone Marinette cared about. 

The last bit of this list was in crisis. So were a fair few others, but the last one was  _ urgent, Tikki, baby-sitting can wait!  _

Marinette had found a video on her phone. She had no memory of this video, and Adrien Agreste was the one holding her phone. He was talking about  _ dating her _ , and the Marinette in the video was agreeing that they were a great couple and that they needed to remember this when it was over. 

Marinette, who had a near-perfect memory, took issue with this video and promptly freaked out. No way would she forget something like this, not when her crush was involved. Even worse, Marinette  _ could _ remember a very recent event that matched the video timestamp that would also account for her missing memory; that is, fighting Oblivio during a school field trip.

Both of them, Marinette and Adrien, had gone missing when Oblivio showed up, so this proved that the pair had been together. But Alya and Nino, who had the only clear memories of the event due to the specific effects of that akuma on other people, had only seen Ladybug and Chat Noir. And if Alya and Nino had only been looking for the pair of superheroes, but were chasing Marinette/Ladybug and Adrien in the video, then something didn’t add up.

To the poor, exhausted Marinette, upon reviewing these facts her brain said, “Adrien  _ is  _ Chat Noir! You turned down your partner down for your crush on him! Hah!” 

Had Marinette been experiencing rational normal person levels of stress she would have talked herself out of this line of thought. 

Instead, she sent this video to Chat Noir around midnight via  _ Marinette’s  _ phone, and they screamed at each other over text, and then on the roof of a nearby building. 

Had Marinette sent this video to Adrien Agreste’s phone from her own phone, it’s likely Adrien wouldn’t have jumped to the same conclusion. However, there was no possible way for Marinette to have Chat Noir’s baton number. The only way she would was if… She was Ladybug. 

And everyone knew Marinette had an insane crush on some boy in their class. So Ladybug really would never love him back-- that is, as both Chat Noir and Adrien Agreste.

Had one of this pair of lovebirds been more emotionally coherent, this would have been the end of their weird sexual tension. Both of them would have come to the rational (and true!) conclusion that they came to with no memory of each other, based on evidence alone: that they were hopelessly in love (which was true!) and that they were also best friends (which was also true!) and that all of the posturing was ridiculous. Then they would have gotten more sleep, gone on a date or two, defeated Hawkmoth, and gotten married. 

That’s what should have happened. 

Instead they both awkwardly no-romo’ed each other until Marinette had another crisis. 

The next crisis was that Marinette was a terrible friend and that she really had been neglecting Alya’s status as bestie, and this one was not easily solved by dramatic screaming. This was because Marinette could not under any circumstances tell Alya about being Ladybug. Marinette’s best friend was extremely observant, as well as running a youtube channel and blog that tracked parsian superheroes, specifically Ladybug. Anything Marinette said about being Ladybug would be put on Alya’s blog. 

Alya noticed a series of things, in no particular order, that made her subconsciously suspicious of her best friend. The first, and most concerning, was that Marinette’s obvious lack of sleep. Twice Alya received vine compilations at four a.m., not to mention all of the dank old memes that Marinette now seemed to find hilarious sent in the early morning hours. There was also the second sign something was wrong, linked to the first, and that was a semi-coherent Marinette ranting over video chat about Chat Noir and how awesome he was, as well as how much his puns annoyed her. Of all the things for Marinette to ever willingly talk about, Paris’ superhero duo was not on that list. 

The third sign was a screenshotted conversation sent to Alya by Nino, which had come from Adrien, who in turn had been conversing with the aforementioned sleepless disaster. This was what made Alya recognize the previous signs something was wrong. Marinette never neglected to inform Alya of her potential developments on the crush front, and texting (texting! in full sentences! when did that happen?) Adrien was definitely a new thing. As Alya discovered later, this conversation between her best friend and her boyfriend’s best friend was immediately followed by the removal of Adrien’s face from Marinette’s belongings, including the calendar and the creepy stalkerish computer files. 

After a series of encounters with an increasingly jumpy-and-suspicious Marinette that was super bad at lying, Alya gave up. Marinette was free to keep her excuses, and when she wanted to spill the weird tea on what had her staying up late and abandoning her friends, she could come find Alya and not the other way around. 


End file.
